Different
by bean21
Summary: Good thing it was Friday, he needed to get away from the tangled up mess that was currently his life.
1. Chapter 1

Different

Zeke pulled his motorcycle into Virgil's driveway. He sighed as he took his helmet off and shook out his hair. Good thing it was Friday, he needed to get away from the tangled up mess that was currently his life. He slowly walked toward the door and knocked. Amy swung the door open, then looked up at Zeke.

"Oh, it's just _you_," she remarked. "Go ahead in, they're waiting for you."

"Good to see you too, Amy," Zeke replied as he stepped past Virgil's little sister. He could already hear his two friends talking over the sound of the tv as he walked into the living room.

"Zeke!"

"Hey man!"

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Some stuff came up."

"You missed the first two tornadoes!" Charlie exclaimed.

"No doubt you'll tell me all about them," Zeke answered with a smile.

"Here, have some pizza," Virgil offered.

"Don't mind if I do."

Virgil handed the pizza box to Zeke, who took two large slices and transferred them to a paper plate. Looking into the box again he grabbed a third piece and laid it on top of the others. A few minutes later Charlie slid the box over to himself and opened it.

"Hey!" Charlie exclaimed. He pushed away the empty box then reached over and grabbed the last piece of pizza from off Zeke's plate. "That's mine, thank you very much!"

"I don't think so!" Zeke stood up, picking Charlie up off the couch and slinging the younger teen over his shoulders. He grabbed the pizza slice and while still holding Charlie began to eat it.

"Knock it off!" Charlie yelled, trying to grab the pizza and get down at the same time. "That is so not fair!"

"Ok, guys, that's enough," Virgil's mom said good-naturedly, coming in from the kitchen. Zeke smiled slightly, set Charlie down, and quietly finished eating the pizza slice.

At the 3rd ranked tornado Zeke's cell phone started to ring. He looked at the caller ID and groaned.

"Who's that?" Virgil asked casually.

"Uh, it's no one. Hang on one sec." Zeke flipped his phone open. "Yeah?" he answered with agitation in his voice. With an apologetic look at Virgil and Charlie he stood up and walked out of the room.

Virgil heard the door shut and exchanged a confused glance with Charlie.

"Who do you think it is?" Charlie asked.

Virgil shook his head. "I don't know." They waited around a couple minutes. After a while Zeke came back inside and started to grab his things.

"I gotta go," was all he said.

"Who was it?" Virgil asked. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, sure," Zeke answered in a distracted voice.

"What's going on?" Virgil asked again, looking a little worried.

"Nothing, just forget about it!"

"But-"

Zeke silenced Virgil with one cold glance.

"You haven't even seen the top tornado!" Charlie blurted as Zeke headed for the door.

"Charlie!" Zeke exclaimed, turning around. His voice became quiet. "Do you honestly think I care?" Without another word Zeke turned and walked out the door. A few seconds later Virgil and Charlie heard his motorcycle start up and pull quickly out of the driveway.

"Did he just revert to 'scary Zeke' on us?" Charlie asked softly.

"I think he did."

"But he never does that to _us_!"

"Something's going on with him," Virgil answered, still looking towards the door. "I guess we'll find out at school on Monday."


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie walked down the hallway, looking around. He spotted Virgil and ran toward him. "Hey, Virgil!"

Virgil turned and looked at Charlie with a slightly worried face. "Have you seen him?"

"No, not yet," Charlie answered as he slowed down. "Have you?"

"No." Virgil sighed as the two friends started walking together.

"School hasn't even started yet, maybe he's just a little late," Charlie said hopefully.

"He's not late very often. I don't know what was up with the message he left on my phone."

"What did it say, again?"

Virgil thought back to the message he had listened to that morning. "It just said 'Don't worry about picking me up today Virg.' "

"That was all?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think he's gonna come to school?"

"I don't know, Charlie. Maybe we'll find out at lunch."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, I have to go."

"Ok," Virgil answered. Glancing at his watch, he figured that he had enough time to check one last place. Quickly he wound his way through the halls to the window where Zeke sat sometimes, but it was empty. "What's going on, Zeke?" he said softly, turning to make his way to class.

At lunchtime Virgil and Charlie met outside the cafeteria and went in together. They immediately looked toward their table, where Zeke would normally be sitting, but it was empty. They quietly got their food then made their way over.

"What's that?" Charlie asked, setting down his lunch tray.

Virgil picked up a slightly crinkled piece of paper off the table and unfolded it. Written in jagged all capital letters was the word "sorry", with the name Zeke signed below it.

"That's it, we're finding out what's going on," Virgil said, walking away.

"Wait, Virgil, where are you going?" Charlie asked. "We can't just leave our food here! Wait, just, ah fine!" Taking a quick bite of his lunch he ran after Virgil. "Where are you going?" he asked again once he caught up.

"To Vice Principal Tolkan. He might know where Zeke is."

Virgil quickly walked through the halls with Charlie next to him. He felt like something was wrong, and he wanted to find out. As he turned the corner he collided with someone and stumbled backwards.

"Woah!" Vice Principal Tolkan exclaimed in an annoyed voice. "What's going on?" He looked at Charlie and Virgil and smoothed out his suit jacket. "You two are supposed to be eating lunch!"

"Vice Principal Tolkan! Just the man we wanted to see!" Virgil said, hoping to get the Vice Principal a little less annoyed at them. It worked.

"Well, usually students don't actually seek me out. You should be eating lunch, but as it's obviously important it will be all right. What can I do for you two?"

"We were wondering if you might know where Zeke is, he doesn't seem to be here today."

"Zeke?"

"Zeke Thompson," Charlie added.

"Oh, the big scary guy?"

Virgil and Charlie nodded.

"He showed up at my office early this morning. I excused him from school for a week, he had to leave because of legal issues."

"Legal issues?!" Charlie and Virgil exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah, I guess since he turned 18 a while back he's pushing to get out on his own, it's all really complicated."

"What are you talking about!?" Charlie practically yelled.

"Well, didn't you guys know?"

"Know what?!"

"Zeke is a foster child."


	3. Chapter 3

Virgil and Charlie slowly walked back to the cafeteria after thanking Vice Principal Tolkan. Neither of them said anything as they walked to their normal lunch table and started eating. Jeanette walked over and waved at them.

"Hey guys, mind if I sit here?"

Virgil jumped a little bit at Jeanette's sudden voice interrupting his thoughts, but he nodded his head. "Yeah, no problem."

She slid down next to Charlie with a smile. "What's new, cockatoo?" Without even waiting for an answer she quickly asked, "Hey, where's Zeke?"

"He's-" Charlie began, but Virgil shook his head slightly.

"He's just not here today," Virgil said slowly.

Jeanette frowned a little bit. "Is everything ok? 'Cause if he's in trouble that would be _so _not cool..."

"Everything's fine, Jeanette," Virgil interrupted, but under his breath he added "I hope."

The rest of the day went by slowly, and Virgil couldn't stop thinking about Zeke and wondering if he was ok. He thought about all the signs that Zeke was a foster child and how he understood them now, but never had before. Little things pointed to it, like how Zeke never mentioned his family, or how they had never actually been to Zeke's house. As he thought about it more Virgil began to feel guilty that he had never asked Zeke about it, while at the same time he wondered why Zeke never told them.

He and Charlie didn't talk about it all that day until they were heading home in Virgil's car.

"Why did you stop me from telling Jeanette?" Charlie asked.

"Because if Zeke never told us it was for a reason, and he obviously didn't want it spreading around. I want to keep it quiet until we can talk to him, ok?"

"Ok," Charlie agreed.

"I'll try to call him tonight," Virgil said. The rest of the ride was quiet until Virgil got to Charlie's house. "See you tomorrow."

Charlie looked over at him. "Do you think Zeke is gonna be ok?"

"I hope so, Charlie."


	4. Chapter 4

Virgil punched Zeke's number into his phone and held it up to his ear. "C'mon, Zeke, pick up," he whispered as he listened to it ring. After a few seconds a voice came on.

"_Hey, it's me, I couldn't answer my phone, leave a message_."

Suddenly Virgil didn't know what to say. "Hey, Zeke, uh, I hope everything's going ok." He sighed and continued. "Look, man, we're worried about you. You should call me or something." He ended the call and threw the phone on his bed. After a few seconds he picked it up again and started pushing the buttons.

"Hey, Steph?"

Stephanie's voice answered on the other end. "Hey, Virgil! What's going on?"

"Uh, life," Virgil answered with a small laugh.

Stephanie laughed too. "I can relate! So what did you call about?"

"Oh, I don't know, nothing specifically. I guess I just needed someone to talk to."

"Well, I'm glad you called me. I think I needed someone to talk to, too."

"Talk tutu? Woah, if this is getting into ballet then I'm out of here!"

Stephanie laughed again. "C'mon Virgil, you know that you secretly love it."

After laughing together the two friends got quiet again. "I miss you, Virgil," Stephanie said suddenly. "We need to hang out sometime."

"Ok, I know this sounds really lame Steph, but hear me out," Virgil said with a smile. "Maybe if you want you could hang out with us next Friday night. We always get together and watch the weather network count down the top 10 natural disasters, like tornadoes. It's me and Charlie and..." Virgil's voice faded out.

"Virgil? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here."

"That sounds like fun. I just don't know how I would tell Derek. Anyways, what about Zeke? Doesn't he hang out with you guys on Friday too? It seems like you three are always together these days. By the way, was he at school today? I didn't see him."

"Uh, no, he wasn't there today. Yeah, he usually hangs out with us too, but I don't know if he'll be able to this week."

"Why not?"

"I think life's hitting him harder than us."

"Is he ok?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Hey, Virgil, I'm sorry but I have to go."

"Ok, no problem."

"I hope everything's ok."

"Thanks, Steph. Honestly, so do I."

"I'm glad you called, Virgil. Call me again some time and we can talk longer."

"Ok. I'm glad I did too."

"Bye!"

"Bye, Stephanie." Virgil ended the call, then quickly dialed Zeke's number one more time, but shut his phone when no one answered.


	5. Chapter 5

"Zeke?"

"Yeah?"

"I checked your phone, you missed three calls and have two new voice mails."

"Ok, thanks." Zeke grabbed his phone and looked at it. Two missed calls from Virgil and one from Charlie. He sighed and listened to his first voice mail. It was from Virgil.

"_Hey, Zeke, uh, I hope everything's going ok."_

"Never been better," Zeke mumbled to himself.

Virgil's voice paused, then continued. "_Look, man, we're worried about you. You should call me or something."_

Zeke sighed and listened to Charlie's.

"_Hi Zeke. Look, Vice Principal Tolkan told me and Virgil that you're a foster child. Are you doing ok? Please call us and tell us what's going on. Ok bye."_

Zeke pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at it. His picture was one of him, Virgil, and Charlie together. He ran his hand through his dark hair. Slowly he began to dial Virgil's number.

"Zeke?"

"Yeah?"

"They need you in there again."

"Ok." He closed his phone and turned it off.


	6. Chapter 6

Virgil sighed. Home Ec. wasn't exactly his best class. They had to make cookies today.

_This could be interesting._

"It's Friday already and we haven't heard anything from him," Charlie said as he stirred the eggs and milk together. "Do you think he's ok?"

"He must be all right." Virgil paused. "You said you told him we know he's a foster child?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think he might be mad that we know?" Virgil asked.

"Why would he be?"

"Well, I don't know, but he never told us."

"But he wouldn't be _mad_, would he?"

"I don't know! Hey, how many chocolate chips are we supposed to use?"

"I don't know, the recipe doesn't say."

"Fine, we'll just use the whole bag."

"No way, Virgil, that's too many!" Charlie grabbed the bag of chocolate chips away from his friend. "Give me that."

"Hey, give it back!"

"Uh, guys?" Jeanette said from her table. She suddenly looked toward the door and was about to say something but stopped. The whole classroom was quietly watching, but Charlie and Virgil didn't notice.

The two kept arguing and each began to pull on the bag. Virgil whacked Charlie and Charlie was about to hit back when a hand wearing a black leather glove grabbed his arm.

"Hey!" a familiar voice said loudly.

Charlie and Virgil wheeled around and stared in shock.

"No hitting."

"Zeke!"

"Hey guys. Sorry to interrupt your, uh, class." He looked toward the home ec. teacher, who just nodded with an understanding look and told the other students to keep working. He let go of Charlie's arm.

"How did we survive a week without you, man?" Virgil said with a smile.

"I have no idea." Zeke leaned over to look behind Virgil and Charlie. "Uh, what is that?"

"In the bowl?" Charlie asked. Zeke nodded.

"It's cookie dough."

Zeke smiled slightly as he looked at the soupy mixture. "No offense, guys, but remind me to never eat anything you two make. I don't think I would even feed that to Albert Felinestein."

"Hey!" Charlie said, but he was smiling.

"Listen, guys, I should let you get back to your cooking or whatever you want to call what you're doing," Zeke said with a small smile. "Can we hang out after school?"

"Sure, no problem," Virgil answered.

"I think we have a lot to talk about," Zeke added softly. "See you guys."

"Zeke?"

"Yeah, Virgil?"

"I'm glad you're back." Virgil looked over at Charlie, then back at Zeke. "We both are."


	7. Chapter 7

Virgil threw a piece of grass toward the sky, waiting silently with Charlie. Zeke would be showing up any second. With a sigh he pulled another piece of grass from his back lawn and started twirling it between his fingers absentmindedly.

"What are we gonna say to him?" he asked softly. "What can we say?" He looked over at Charlie who only shrugged in response.

They heard a motorcycle and both of them quickly stood up and walked around to the front of the house. Zeke took his helmet off and climbed off his bike. "Hey guys."

"Hey. So, I was thinking we could hang out in the back, if that's ok," Virgil said.

Zeke nodded. "That's fine." The three friends walked quietly to Virgil's back yard where Virgil and Charlie sat down on the grass and Zeke propped himself up against the tree in the yard.

"Are you ok, man?" Virgil asked Zeke softly.

"Yeah. I mean, I guess so. This is pretty much normal for my life."

Suddenly the kitchen door opened and Virgil's mom stuck her head out. "Hey boys, I have some snacks for you if you want to come get them."

"Ok, mom, thanks," Virgil said. "Want something to eat?" he asked Zeke and Charlie. Both of them nodded and stood up.

"Good to see you again, Zeke," Mrs. Fox said kindly as the three boys started getting the snacks that were laid out for them.

"Thanks. It's good to be back."

The boys moved back out to the back yard, taking their snacks with them. After a few moments of silent eating Zeke looked up at Virgil and Charlie. "Did either of you guys tell anyone else?"

Virgil shook his head. "We wanted to talk to you before we did. We couldn't get a hold of you all week."

"Sorry I didn't call you guys."

"Why didn't you ever tell us you're a foster child?" Charlie blurted.

"I just don't like telling people," Zeke answered quietly as he looked down at his food, his long black hair partially hiding his face.

"Look, Zeke," Virgil began, unsure of exactly what to say, "you didn't have to tell us if you didn't want to. But you should know that we understand..."

"No Virgil," Zeke interrupted suddenly, looking up. His face was a mixture of anger and sadness. "I don't know what you were gonna say but it doesn't matter, because neither of you guys will ever be able to understand what it's like to be me. You might understand what it's like to have issues with your family or whatever, but that is completely different. Both of you have a mom and a dad who love you, Virgil you have a little sister who, annoying as she can be, still loves you. I have moved from one family to another my _entire_ life. Some of them liked me, some of them didn't. I liked some of them, too, but it's not the same. I have never known what it's like to have a real family, and lots of people in my life have let me down, so you'll excuse me if I don't tell people everything about my life."

"C'mon, Zeke, you had to have parents once," Virgil exclaimed.

Zeke glared at him coldly. "Don't talk about things you don't know about, Virg."

"Well, you should have told us anyways," Virgil continued. "I mean, we're your friends! Why wouldn't you tell us? Do you not trust us or something?" He really didn't mean to sound as rude as he did. The truth was that he had no idea how to handle the awkward situation, so his words came out harsher than he wanted.

Without a word Zeke stood up and started walking away.

"Wait, Zeke!" Charlie stood up and ran after him. Zeke stopped and looked down at him. "Look, don't pay attention to Virgil. We want to help, really. Both of us do."

Zeke's hard look softened a little bit. "I'm sorry. I should go."

"Zeke!" Virgil stood up and walked slowly over to Zeke and Charlie. "Look, Zeke, I'm sorry, man."

"I know, Virgil. I don't think any of us are really ready to talk about this. I'm gonna go." Without another word Zeke slowly left.


	8. Chapter 8

After having driven for a while Zeke pulled his motorcycle over to the side of the road. Quietly he pulled a small slip of paper out of his pocket and looked at the address written on it. He had been moving between families for so long that it got confusing when he had a new address to memorize. He stuffed the paper back in his pocket and started heading towards the home of his newest guardian. When his last foster parents hadn't wanted him anymore a couple weeks ago the Carpenter family had volunteered to keep him with them for a while. He would stay with them until he could get the legal issues of moving out on his own out of the way.

This was his first day with the Carpenters. He had been able to meet them and start moving some of his stuff in a couple days ago, but this was his first day of actually staying with them. While he drove his bike down the streets he started to get a little bit nervous. The Carpenters had six young kids and had never had a foster child before. Zeke started thinking about what it might be like. He had never been good around kids. But it was too late to back out now.

He pulled up to their house and parked his bike. Looking at the small home he wondered how six kids could fit into it, and how he would fit into it on top of them. He sighed and walked up to the door. Suddenly he wasn't sure if he should knock or just walk in, so he decided to knock.

A young girl swung the door open and looked up. "It's Zeke!" she yelled. All the kids who had been running around behind her in the house suddenly ran towards the door.

"Zeke!" Six happy faces were looking up at him and he had no idea what to do. Luckily Mrs. Carpenter came walking up.

"Go on, kids," she said with a smile. "Let him come in before you attack him! Zeke, you don't have to knock anymore."

"Yeah, thank you."

"Well, come on in!" Mrs. Carpenter walked back into her crowded house. The kids were back to running around, but the little girl that answered the door stopped and smiled up at Zeke.

"Are you my big brother now?" she asked excitedly.

Zeke couldn't help but smile a little bit. "I guess so, for a little while." The girl, about five years old, smiled even bigger than before, revealing a couple missing teeth. She giggled, then ran off with her siblings.

Mrs. Carpenter reappeared with the kind smile that seemed to be constantly on her face. "Well, you know where your room is. You can go up there if you like, and dinner is in an hour. Zeke, you know we've never had a foster child before, so I'm not sure how things are normally done. So, for as long as you're with us, you're going to be part of the family."

Zeke nodded and started up the skinny stairway. He got into his room and looked around, then set his helmet down on the bed then sat down next to it. It was a weird feeling, but he couldn't stop thinking about how excited the kids had been to see him. He was used to everyone getting really quiet and walking the other way as soon as he showed his face anywhere. Even his foster families had seemed to avoid him for the past few years. But those kids had looked so happy when he showed up. For a second he wished that everyone could be as accepting as kids are, then he thought back to some other kids in his life and he frowned.


	9. Chapter 9

Zeke sat on the edge of his bed with his hands folded. In his mind he played back a memory he had wanted to forget for so long...

"Zeke? Are you ready? You're going to be late!"

"I'm coming!" Fifth-grader Zeke Thompson quickly ran out the door and climbed into his guardian's car. His smile was huge. One of the boys in his class, Timmy, was having a birthday party, and he invited Zeke. The two boys weren't exactly best friends, but they stayed together most of the time during school. This was the first birthday party Zeke had ever been to, and he couldn't wait.

The party itself went fine. It was the end of the party that Zeke would never get out of his head, as much as he wanted to. Cars had started pulling up as parents came to pick up their kids. Zeke watched them silently. Pretty soon Timmy's mom walked over to the young boy.

"Do you need a ride home, Zeke?"

Zeke shook his head. "No, my guardian's going to come pick me up."

The kids that were left looked at him strangely. "Your guardian?"

"Yeah, my foster mom."

"You mean you don't have parents?" one of the kids asked with a weird look.

"Well, I do, I guess." Zeke frowned, unsure of what to say.

"Are your parents some type of criminals or something?"

"Timmy!" his mom scolded. "That's enough."

Zeke walked away from the other kids. He felt like crying, but he wouldn't. Relief washed over him the second he saw his foster mom's car, and he ran to it without saying goodbye to the others.

The rest of his fifth grade school year was miserable for young Zeke. The kids always looked at him weird, and everyone seemed to be avoiding him, even Timmy. He felt like they didn't want to be with him, or they thought he was weird, just because he was a little bit different.

Before then he usually told people that he was a foster child. After that year he moved to a different town and a new school. He didn't tell anybody. He didn't really get to know anybody either. As he got older he became more isolated, preferring to stay by himself, and usually scaring away anyone that tried to get close to him.

Things changed, at least a little bit, when he met Charlie and Virgil. At first he was just going into it for something to do and to build. He had no idea he would come out of it with two amazing friends. When he started to get close to Charlie and Virgil he considered telling them he was a foster child, but decided not to. As they became even better friends he wanted to tell them so badly, but he was also afraid.

Zeke smiled grimly at the irony. He was the "big scary guy" who made everyone else afraid, but he had been scared to tell his two best friends that he was a foster child. Now he wished that he would have told them, and he had no idea what to do with the awkward situation between them.

There was a soft knock on his door. "Come in."

The little girl who had opened the door to their house was standing there again. She looked over at him with her big blue eyes and smiled. "Mom told me 'Go get Zeke to come down for dinner.'"

Zeke nodded and stood up to follow the young girl. He had been trying to remember all the kids' names, and suddenly he remembered hers. "Thanks, Sarah."

Sarah smiled her big smile again, and Zeke followed her down the stairs.


	10. Chapter 10

"Zeke, come watch a movie with us!"

Zeke looked down at the kids, who were holding up _Toy Story_. He had barely finished eating and these guys were ready to do something else. He started to wonder if they would ever get tired. "Uh, ok I guess."

Not long after he had sat down on the couch Mrs. Carpenter walked in. "Kids, go ahead and start the movie. Zeke, can I talk to you for a second?"

Zeke got up and walked into the kitchen.

"I am so sorry, Zeke, but I have to go somewhere tonight on short notice," Mrs. Carpenter began. "I didn't think you would want to be left alone with the kids, so I called their normal babysitter. She should be over any time now. Is that ok?"

Zeke nodded. As long as he wasn't completely alone with the munchkins he'd be ok. After talking a little bit with Mrs. Carpenter the kids yelled for him to watch the movie with them.

It was about five minutes later that the doorbell rang. Zeke didn't pay much attention, he just stared at the tv screen and thought about other things, mostly Virgil and Charlie. Even when he heard a girl's cheerful voice talking with Mrs. Carpenter in the kitchen he only heard the conversation subconsciously.

"Hi! Thank you so much for coming over to watch the kids at such short notice."

"Oh, it's no problem. I was, like, _so_ bored at home anyways. By the way, is the foster kid here now?"

"Yes, he's in the living room with the kids."

"Ok. I just want to make him feel welcome and all. It's hard to move to a new place."

"But, oh, didn't I tell you? He didn't move here, he already lived here. In fact, I think he goes to your school."

"What?"

Zeke heard footsteps walking to the living room and he looked over. He immediately stood up.

"Jeanette?!"

"Zeke?!"


	11. Chapter 11

"What are you doing here?" Jeanette asked with a surprised look on her face.

Zeke groaned. He had kept his private life hidden from the people he knew for so long, but three people already knew his biggest secret in less than a week. The walls he had put up around his life were slowly crumbling. He shook his head and ran up the stairs without any explanation.

He could hear everyone talking downstairs. Jeanette's confused voice was the loudest. "_Zeke_ is your foster child? No way, not Zeke! He's like, well, he's just Zeke!"

Running into his room, Zeke shut and locked his door. He held his head in his hands and tried to slow his rapid breathing. After a few minutes he sat down and tried to get his thoughts together. Things had quieted down in the living room downstairs, and it sounded like the kids were back to watching the movie. He looked out the window and saw Mrs. Carpenter pulling out of the driveway. With a frown he realized that he was alone in the house with Jeanette and the Carpenter kids.

He quietly started pacing his small room, then stopped and looked sadly around it. All of his things were there. His posters were hung on the wall, his computer was set up next to the bed, and his pictures of him with Charlie and Virgil were up on the dresser, but it wasn't his room; it was the Carpenter's. He sighed as he started to think about how none of the rooms had been his, neither had the houses or the families he stayed with. He felt completely overwhelmed. He needed someone to talk to. _Anyone._ Taking a deep breath he unlocked his door and walked down the stairs.

Quietly he stuck his head into the living room. Jeanette was sitting on the couch with the kids, who were still watching "Toy Story." Zeke cleared his throat and everyone looked back at him.

"Uh, Jeanette, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure." Jeanette and Zeke walked into the kitchen and stood there a little awkwardly.

"So, you're their babysitter?" Zeke asked, trying to think of something to say. He could only think that he wished he had stayed upstairs.

"Yeah, I am," Jeanette replied with a smile. "They're such good kids. Most nights I bring over my bird matching game, but I forgot to get it tonight since it was pretty short notice. The kids love that game. I think they like the pictures of the birds. It's sort of like concentration, but with bird pictures..."

Zeke just looked at Jeanette. Her she was, after what had happened earlier, and she was smiling and rambling off about birds like everything was normal. Then he realized that she had stopped talking and was looking at him.

"So," Zeke said softly, "I guess you know my secret now."

"What secret?" Jeanette looked confused, then she smiled. "Oh, you mean the foster child thing?" She shrugged. "That's no big deal."

"But, I never tell anyone," Zeke said, with a slightly confused look.

"Yeah. I don't really see why, but I mean it's your life, you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to."

"Well, weren't you surprised or anything?" He couldn't figure out why Jeanette seemed so calm. He had gotten a lot of different responses when people learned he was a foster child, but Jeanette's attitude of total acceptance was one of the weirdest yet.

"Well, I guess I was at first," she admitted. "But only because I didn't know why you were here. Then Mrs. Carpenter explained that you're the foster child they've been talking about. It was a little surprising, but then I just thought that it was really cool that you're here."

"Trust me, Jeanette, there is nothing _cool_ about being a foster child," Zeke said coldly.

Jeanette stepped backwards some, looking sort of intimidated. Then she smiled. It wasn't her usual, spunky smile, though. It was softer, but still sincere.

"Ok, so maybe being a foster child isn't cool in itself, but you have to admit that some cool things have happened to you because of it."

"Like what?"

"Like staying with the Carpenters. They're a really good family, and they care about you already Zeke, even though they've only know you a couple days. The kids were so excited, they wouldn't stop telling me about the 'big brother' they were gonna have. And, think about it, if you weren't a foster child, you probably would have never moved to this town in the first place."

"So? What are you getting at?"

"_So_, you would have never met Virgil or Charlie. You guys all seem to be, like, really close."

Zeke paused, then nodded. "Thanks, Jeanette." Without saying anything else he slowly walked back upstairs to his room. Once he had shut the door again he started to think about what Jeanette had said. He thought about what his life would be like if he hadn't moved to the town he had lived in for the past several years. He would never have met Charlie and Virgil, never helped build the time machine, never have been one of the minutemen. Suddenly he realized that he would never have had the greatest experience in his life, or the greatest friends.


	12. Chapter 12

1 Virgil flopped down onto his couch and grabbed the tv remote. It was only half way through Saturday and he was already bored. He turned the tv on and started flipping through the channels, but he wasn't really paying attention. He paused on a random channel, too absorbed with his thoughts to see what he had landed on.

"Wow, Virg," a voice said from behind him. "I didn't know you were into opera."

Virgil whirled around to see Zeke standing behind him with a small smile on his face. "What are you talking about, Zeke?"

Zeke just nodded at the tv. Virgil looked back and saw that the channel he landed on was playing an opera performance. He laughed. "Oh yeah," he answered sarcastically. "I guess you found out my secret addiction!"

Zeke smiled. "Sorry to, uh, interrupt. Your mom let me in."

"Don't worry about it. Not like I was doing anything anyways!" He turned off the tv. "Go ahead and sit down."

Zeke did sit down and he looked over at Virgil.

"So, what's up?" Virgil asked.

"Uh, a lot," Zeke answered softly.

"You know you can tell me if you want to."

Zeke smiled a little. "Yeah, I know." He laughed. "Man, you thought we landed in munchkin land when we went into that black hole. I think I somehow got myself there again."

Virgil had no idea what Zeke was talking about, but he laughed. "Are the munchkins as annoying as they were then?"

"Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but they don't seem to be half bad. At least they don't ask me if maccaroni is a vegetable."

"Do you still have your grappling hook just in case anything goes wrong?"

"Hey, you making fun of the hook again?"

"No man, just making sure you have it. Who knows when it'll come in handy!"

"Need I remind you, Virgil, we could be stuck in the past if not for my grappling hook. Then there would be two of you to live down the 'incident.' Now that could be weird."

The two friends started laughing. Virgil was relieved that the tension between them was gone again. Things got quiet after a few seconds and Zeke's face became more serious.

"Listen, Virgil, I came over here to tell you something."

"Ok, what is it?"

Zeke sighed then looked straight at Virgil. "Look, I am not the kind of guy that tells everyone what's going on in my life, as you've seen. I hate telling people how I feel or being 'open' or whatever you want to call it. But I am sick and tired of keeping everything from you and Charlie. I want to tell you guys about my life, at least a little bit. I want you to know what's going on and I want to be able to tell you things in the future."

"All right."

"Can you guys come over to the house I'm staying in on Monday after school? Sorry to word it like that, I know it sounds weird, but it's always been weird for me to call the place I'm staying my home."

"Yeah, that's fine. We'll be over."

"Ok, I'll email you the address. Sorry, but I should probably get going." Zeke stood up off the couch.

"Zeke?"

"Yeah, Virgil?"

"Thanks for coming over." Virgil smiled.

Zeke smiled back a little bit. He started to leave, then turned back. "Oh, Virgil?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be surprised if Jeanette is over there too."

"What?!"

Zeke laughed. "I said _don't_ be surprised."

"Uh, ok." Virgil gave Zeke a confused look, but then he smiled. "See ya on Monday, Zeke."

"Later."


	13. Chapter 13

"He wants us to go to his house?!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Yeah. Well, his foster parent's house," Virgil answered, switching his phone from one ear to the other.

"You're sure?" Charlie's voice sounded doubtful as it crackled over the phone.

"Dude, he left my house two minutes ago."

"But you're sure we're talking about the same Zeke?"

"Oh come on, it's not _that _surprising." There were a few seconds of silence. "Ok wipe that stupid smirk off your face 'cause I know it's there, Charlie. So it _was_ surprising, but I don't really see why it should be."

"Virgil, this is Zeke we're talking about. You know, the guy who doesn't tell anyone anything? Are you sure he wasn't joking?"

"I'm positive. You know as well as I do that he wouldn't joke about something like this. Besides, he looked so serious, he couldn't have been joking."

"Yeah, you're right," Charlie said softly. "Life can just be so crazy sometimes, it kinda caught me off guard."

"I know what you mean. Hey, sorry, but I need to go, dude," Virgil said quickly. "I think I hear Amy trying to give the hamsters a make-over again."

"Ok, see ya. Have fun with that."

"Later." Virgil shut his phone. "Amy!?"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Zeke slung his backpack off his shoulder and set it on the ground next to his table. He was the first person in the cafeteria so he just sat down and started thinking. Virgil and Charlie were coming over to the Carpenter's house today; Mrs. Carpenter had given him permission to have them over. He had told all the Carpenter kids, too. It was pretty crazy how excited they got about meeting someone new. He was able to get a taste of what it must have been like for Jeanette after the Carpenters decided to take in a foster child.

He wouldn't of thought he would admit it, but he had been having a fairly good time with the Carpenters the last couple days. He still felt a little weird around the kids, but he was getting used to them, not to mention finally getting all their names down. Truthfully, the Carpenters were one of the best foster families he had ever stayed with. They treated him like he was part of their family, nothing else. Still, he was a little bit nervous about Virgil and Charlie going over there. Mainly he was still not quite sure what exactly he was going to say to them.

Zeke looked up and noticed a couple students coming into the cafeteria. Most of the popular teens were coming in, including Stephanie and Derek. He watched them for a few seconds, then looked down and started fiddling with the fork on his table absentmindedly.

"Hi."

As much as the sudden voice surprised Zeke, he was even more surprised when he looked up and saw the speaker.

"Stephanie?"

"You're Zeke, right?" Stephanie asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm Stephanie, but I guess you already knew that." Zeke just looked up at the popular blonde girl in front on him with a questioning look while she stood there a little awkwardly. "Well," she said, "I just noticed that you were gone last week so I thought I'd say that it's nice to have you back. Plus I thought I should finally introduce myself for real since I never have. Virgil talks about you a lot, so I just thought I'd say hi." She smiled a little bit again, then started to leave.

"So what does Virgil say about me?" Zeke asked suddenly, without looking up.

Stephanie turned back to him and smiled again. "Well, he says that you're really into interpretive dance," she said slowly, then she started laughing as soon as Zeke looked up at her with a hint of a smile on his face. "Mind if I sit down?" she asked.

"Be my guest."

Stephanie pulled out a chair at the small table and sat down. "Honestly? Virgil's told me that you're a really cool guy. He's made me want to meet you."

"Well, now what do you think?" Zeke asked, looking at Stephanie again.

"I think it might take some time to figure out, but I'm pretty sure he's right."

"Steph, what are you doing?" a new voice suddenly said.

"Oh, hey Derek." Stephanie didn't sound very excited.

"Come on, Steph, let's go sit down," Derek said, glancing at Zeke. Stephanie stood up slowly.

"See you later, Zeke," she said kindly. Zeke nodded. He could hear Derek starting to question Stephanie, but he tuned them out. The cafeteria was filling up quickly and Zeke started to look around for Virgil and Charlie. They still weren't there yet, but he saw Jeanette standing across the room. He stood up and started walking toward her.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey Jeanette."

"Oh, hi Zeke!" She waved, then hurried over to him. "What's up?"

"Are you going to babysit today? Mrs. Carpenter mentioned that she had somewhere to go again."

"Oh yeah, she's going to some sort of cooking show and Mr. Carpenter is at work again. They're not usually gone this often, though. But-"

"Jeanette!" Zeke interrupted. "Are you babysitting or not?"

"Yeah, I am. Oh, I'll bring my bird matching game tonight!"

"Uh, ok. Listen, Virgil and Charlie are going to be coming over after school, ok?"

"If it's fine with the Carpenters it's fine with me. Maybe Charlie will play my game with me..."

Zeke smiled a little bit. "Ok, I'll see ya later."

"Bye!"

He started heading back to his table, deciding that Jeanette was good for the kids; she had about as much energy as they did. He started thinking and stopped paying attention to walking. Suddenly his foot caught on a chair that was sticking out. He tripped and fell, landing sprawled out on the floor.

"Wow, nice going, dork," Derek said from his table as he started laughing along with most of the students in the cafeteria. Zeke slowly started to stand up, and had gotten to a kneeling position when he was shoved back to the floor by one of the football players that was walking by.

"Hey!" The one voice rang clearly through the cafeteria, silencing everyone.

Zeke turned his head and saw Virgil and Charlie behind him. Charlie stepped forward and gave Zeke his hand while everyone silently watched. Virgil was the one who had spoken, so he faced the students as Zeke stood up off the floor.

"Why are you all laughing? What's so funny about one guy tripping? Did any of you even stop to think about whether or not he's ok?"

Zeke started looking around at the students' different reactions. Some of them, including Derek, were looking at each other, shaking their heads, like they thought Virgil was crazy. Others were looking around like they weren't sure what to do.

"You know what I wish someone would do in this school?" Virgil continued, talking loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's something that I don't think has happened before. I wish that, for once, whenever someone is embarrassed or whatever, that the other people would think about how they would feel if it was happening to them. I wish people would just ask if the person was ok, and then forget about it."

Many of the students were looking down nervously and guiltily. The whole cafeteria was silent, until Jeanette stood up. With a big smile she walked over and stood next to Charlie. "Me too." The four of them looked around the cafeteria. Slowly Stephanie stood up and nodded. Across the room a couple of the students stood up as well.

Virgil looked around and nodded. Zeke followed him and Charlie as the three of them went to sit down. Slowly the conversation in the cafeteria picked up again, but it was obvious that most of the students were talking about what had happened.

Zeke looked over at Virgil and Charlie. "Hey. Thanks, guys."

Virgil smiled. "Maybe we can't undo mistakes anymore, or anything like that, but I say we can still help with them."


	15. Chapter 15

"They're here!" Billy jumped down from the window and ran over to Zeke, who was sitting on the couch. "Your friends are here, Zeke!"

Zeke walked over to the window and saw Virgil and Charlie standing on the sidewalk, looking up at the house like they were making sure they had the right address.

"Is it them?" the little girl named Carrie asked excitedly.

"Yeah, it's them," Zeke answered. "Hey Jeanette!"

"Yeah?" Jeanette called from the other room.

"They're here." Zeke turned to the kids who were gathering by the window. "Hey you guys I need you to behave and not attack my friends the second they come in, ok?"

"Ok, Zeke," the kids replied in unison. He smiled a little. For being kids, they were pretty cute. A soft knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and the kids all went running toward it.

_So much for not attacking them. _

Sarah reached the door first and flung it open. Zeke couldn't help but start laughing at Virgil and Charlie's shocked faces at seeing six kids standing there. He considered going to save his friends, but he stopped to stand back and watch.

As if on cue, all the kids started talking at once. Charlie looked like he was going into shock, but Virgil started laughing.

"Ok guys," Zeke said as he stepped forward. "I think there's some ice cream in the freezer, go see if Jeanette will get you some."

"Ok Zeke!" With that the kids scurried away.

"Wait. Jeanette?!" Charlie exclaimed. Virgil and Zeke both started laughing.

"Come on in, guys," Zeke said.

"Wow, Zeke, when you said you landed in munchkin land, you really meant it!" Virgil smiled.

Charlie looked between the two of them, obviously confused.

Virgil looked at Zeke again. "And Jeanette...?"

"She's the babysitter."

Just then Jeanette poked her head in from the kitchen. "Oh, hi kookaburra! Hi Virgil!"

Virgil waved back while Charlie stared at everything with wide eyes.

"Charlie, close your mouth, you could catch flies in it," Zeke said. He looked at Virgil. "Well, this is it. You want me to show you guys around?"

"Sure, that would be cool."

Zeke gave them a short but thorough tour of the small house. They ended in the kitchen, where Jeanette was getting ice cream for the kids. "Do you guys want some ice cream?" she asked kindly.

"I'll take some," Zeke answered.

"Me too."

"Sure."

When they had their ice cream the three boys moved into the living room and sat down, while Jeanette took the kids upstairs to play a game.

"So, this is basically my life right now," Zeke said bluntly. "Last week when I was gone, it was because I was trying to deal with the legal things of moving out on my own. I guess I just got tired of moving between families. Most people don't want a foster child who's 18. It seems like I haven't really been wanted for several years now. I'm sorry I didn't tell this all to you guys sooner. I wanted to, I really did. But I'll tell you now."

"You still don't have to if you don't want to, Zeke," Virgil said softly.

"Yeah, that would be totally fine," Charlie said.

"I know. But I really feel like I should tell you guys." Zeke took a deep breath, then started. "I never knew my biological parents. They had already had one kid, and that was all they wanted. My mom decided not to get an abortion, but as soon as I was born she put me into foster care. When I was really young it wasn't bad because it was all I knew. But it got harder while I got older.

"I started to understand that lots of other kids weren't like me. They all had one family that they always stayed with. When I was finally told that my parents hadn't wanted me, things got pretty rough. I kept seeing other kids with their parents and wondering why I hadn't ever been loved like that. But I kinda got used to it. When I was young I usually told the people I met that I was a foster child. Until 5th grade. I had a bad experience with some kids then. They just treated me like I was weird because I was different than them, so I stopped telling people. I did better when I was on my own. I guess I became the 'big scary guy' over time, mainly because I liked to be by myself and I didn't really let people get close to me."

The living room was really quiet for a few seconds. Then Jeanette walked in. "Hi guys! Is it ok if I sit down?"

Zeke nodded. "Sure." In Jeanette's hands was a stack of cards with colorful bird pictures on them. Sitting down next to Charlie, she started to lay out the cards face down and then flip them over, two at a time. Zeke figured that this was her bird matching game.

He looked over at Charlie and Virgil again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never actually had a family and I never really had friends before you guys. So I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, and I guess I'm just sorry that I'm different."

"Dude, are you crazy?" Virgil said suddenly. "Man, you do _not_ have to apologize for being different."

"Yeah, Zeke, everyone is different," Charlie added. "That's the point. No one's the same."

"Charlie's right," Virgil said. "If everyone was the same, life would be totally boring. We all have different interests, abilities, and backgrounds. Personally I'm glad that we do. Really Zeke, me and Charlie are just as 'different' as you are."

"Wow Zeke, it's like a weaver bird!" Jeanette exclaimed suddenly.

"Do I _want_ to know what you're talking about?" Zeke asked.

Jeanette just smiled and handed him two of the cards from her game. The word _weaver_ was written across the top of both cards, and a small description of the birds was at the bottom, with a picture in the middle. Zeke studied the pictures. "Jeanette, these birds look nothing alike," he said after a few seconds.

"I know," the bird-loving girl answered with a smile. "Weaver birds live mostly in Africa, and they come in all different colors. They're all different. But they all live together in huge nests that they basically weave together. That's where they get their name. They aren't technically families, but they all live together, even though they're different from each other."

Zeke looked sideways at Jeanette. She seemed to be a lot more serious than usual.

"They are _so_ cool!" she exclaimed. So she was still the same spunky girl after all.

Virgil smiled. "In a crazy way, Jeanette is right, Zeke. Just because people are different or aren't related doesn't mean they can't still be family."


	16. Epilogue

Zeke was alone in his bedroom, sitting on the edge of his bed with his hands folded. So much had happened in one day that he was trying to sort it all out in his head. Virgil and Charlie had left quite a while ago, and it had been about an hour since Jeanette left.

It was such a weird feeling. He knew that Virgil and Charlie were his friends, of course. But he had never felt so much acceptance as he had that day. A couple people had been 'friends' with him before, but it had almost always been a conditional thing, like they would be friends with him as long as it was 'cool.' No one had really stood up for him before. In fact, a lot of people had let him down. Starting from when he was born, no one had been there for him.

But that day at lunch, Virgil, Charlie, and Jeanette had stood by him. They defended him while everyone else laughed. Even Stephanie had stood up, silently standing against the other students. Then, that afternoon, he had felt more accepted than ever before. He knew that Virgil and Charlie were his real friends, more so than anyone had been in his life. Even Jeanette was more of a friend to him than others.

He smiled a little bit. For once in his life things were finally going good. He wasn't even in as much of a hurry to move out on his own as he was before. Maybe staying with the Carpenters for a little longer wouldn't be too bad. He looked over at his dresser. There, next to his grappling hook, was a picture of him, Virgil, and Charlie posing in their snow suits. He took it down and smiled at it.

There was a soft knock on his door. "Yes?"

Slowly the door opened a little bit to reveal two blue eyes under a curly blonde head.

"Come on in, Ellie," Zeke said with a smile. At three years old, Ellie was the youngest Carpenter girl. She smiled and walked into Zeke's room. He picked her up and set her on his bed next to him. She looked down at the picture he was holding.

"Are we your family, Zeke?" she asked softly. He looked down at her.

"I think you are, Ellie."

"Are they your family too?" She pointed to the picture.

"Yeah, Ellie. Yeah, they are."


End file.
